Safina wins under cover; Federer, Hewitt, Murray go through (Roundup)

London - Dinara Safina defeated Amelie Mauresmo 4-6, 6-3, 6- 4 as the top seed made history by becoming the first player to win a match with the new Wimbledon Centre Court roof, which closed Monday due to a rain shower. A sprinkling of moisture finally arrived to start the second week - excuse enough for officials to close their new translucent toy and allow the match to continue as an indoor contest. Roger Federer fired past Robin Soderling for the second time in three weeks, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5) to reach the men's quarter- finals on the back of an 11-0 record in the series as the pair re-ran the recent French Open final. But the addition of lights on Centre Court ran out an infamous new record with the latest-ever finish in history at nearly 10:45 pm (2145 GMT). Third seeded hero Andy Murray played for four hours into the night before finally holding off a ferocious charge by Swiss Stan Wawrinka 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 to struggle into the last eight. The Swiss, a frequent Murray practise partner, hammered his backhand to perfection before Murray hung on by his fingernails with a late break for 5-3 in the final set, which finally led to the great escape. The end came on an unsuccessful electronic challenge from Wawrinka, which gave Murray two match points. The Scott slumped to his knees on the first with a concluding winner. 'This was pretty special,' said an emotional Murray. 'Stan played a great match, the standard he set was tough to keep up with. I had chances in the fourth set and didn't take them. I was getting tired at the end. 'There are so many momentum shifts in five-set matches but I stayed tough. Playing under the roof was great, but having 15,000 people supporting you makes it extra special.' The 2002 champion, Lleyton Hewitt, made his sixth career comeback from two sets to love down, overcoming a thigh strain to put out Radek Stepanek 4-6, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 just short of three hours. Safina turned the tables after losing the first set and trailing a break in the second. The number one also came back from 0-3 in the third to deny 2006 champion Mauresmo the chance to continue her quest for a second bite of the cherry at SW19. 'It's very nice to play under the roof, you can't compare it with anything,' said Safina, on Centre Court for the first time and a debut quarter-finalist at the All England Club. Number two Serena Williams beat Daniela Hantuchova 6-3, 6-1 while third seed Venus Williams advanced over 13th seed Ana Ivanovic as the 2008 French Open winner had to retire in pain with a thigh injury to hand over a 6-1, 0-1 victory to the American. 'I just only pay attention to what's going on on my side of the net,' said Williams. 'But today I felt really sad for her actually. She was really upset.' Russian number four Elena Dementieva was untroubled by compatriot Elena Vesnina 6-1, 6-3, while eighth seed Victoria Azarenka took out Russian tenth seed Nadia Petrova 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 6-3. German Sabine Lisicki booked a surprise place in her first major quarter-finals, with an upset of ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-4. Men's fourth seed Novak Djokovic took a quiet win against Dudi Sela 6-2, 6-4, 6-1, while Croatian Ivo Karlovic knocked out seventh seed Fernando Verdasco 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 7-6 (11-9) with 35 aces and winning into a match with Federer. Federer is advancing in the business end of the event as he aims to lift a sixth title in seven years and set a new all-time mark with 15 Grand Slam singles titles should he win the Sunday final again. 'Today was a serving contest, there were not a lot of rallies,' said Federer. 'My form was great in the first week. Today was a dangerous match.' German Tommy Haas, the oldest man remaining in the field at 31, reached the quarter-finals for the first time in his career with a defeat of Russian Igor Andreev 7-6 (10-8), 6-4, 6-4.